A sizeable portion of the Irish population grew up with stories of the great Leeds United teams of 60s and 70s thanks to their fathers being totally awestruck at the ability of a certain Mr John Giles, who left these shores to become one of the finest players under manager Don Revie during a period of great success for the club.
The sheer amount of times I have uttered the words, 'My Dad is a Leeds fan', only to hear 'Yeah, mine too' in response shows the kind of impact his performances had on a generation of Irish sports fans, but now those who are less familiar with the work of Giles before he came an RTÉ pundit have a chance to see just how special he was.
A new documentary called 'Giles' will air on RTÉ One on Monday July 3rd at 9.35pm, and judging by the trailer it's going to be a must-see for Irish football fans of all ages.
Giles Intro from Loosehorse on Vimeo.
Loosehouse, the production team behind Sports IFTA award winning programmes such as All Ireland Day, The Rod Squad, Naked Election, and Guess Who's Back, are telling the story of Giles' career, and from the sounds of things we're going to learn a lot of things we never knew.
It tells the story of the former Rep of Ireland footballer and RTÉ pundit John Giles alongside the social history of Dublin, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. It's the story of Ireland's greatest footballer, with lots of wonderful archive from his playing days at Manchester United and Leeds United.
We bring John back to his home in Ormond Square, the digs he lived in in Manchester, back to a factory like the one he worked in, as well as to the football stadiums he graced as a player.
It looks great, it sounds great, so we're looking forward to it as we expect many football fans across the country are.
The clip of that fan almost in tears at meeting Giles and he just smiles and says 'OK..' is already a highlight, as is himself taking a corner in front of a row of parked cars.
RTÉ One, Monday, 9.35pm.
